


For Reasons Unknown

by indevan



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Injury, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 05:11:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12450312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indevan/pseuds/indevan
Summary: There was one Saiyan who always came in to bug him.  He refused to see any other mechanic and so Lapis was the one who had to fix his seat or his GPS system or whatever other problem he came to him with





	For Reasons Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> there's some one-sided gochi and mentioned vegebul in this fic as well but i felt like it wouldn't be fair to tag them since they don't feature

There were things he didn’t miss about home.  He didn’t miss the traffic or the hate he got on the street.  He didn’t miss his parents.  He missed his sister, wherever she was.  When the invaders came, he was spared because of his fancy for cars.  He would race cars he fixed up out in the badlands and that was what made him seem worthwhile.  He was good with his hands and able to apply what he had taught himself about car mechanics to the attack pods the soldiers in the PTO used.  It wasn’t much but it was enough to keep him alive.

He wasn’t sure how many other humans were brought into the PTO.  There was the scientist who used her great intellect to tune up scouters and make new armor.  There was a short order cook in the mess hall on the base Lapis found himself on.  There were others.  Earth was annexed, after all, not destroyed.  A few people were probably forced to serve under Freeza on the frontlines.  Wear that dorky armor and go out to conquer planets.  For the most part, from what he had been told, humans were pretty unremarkable.  His sister was out there, somewhere.  Sometimes he thought about going to find her but he had no idea where to even begin to look.

He didn’t mind most of those who came through for repairs.  Lapis was far from the only mechanic in the bay and most of the soldiers either were cordial or ignored him.  He harbored a mild dislike for the Saiyans solely because their attack pods were always in the worst condition.  The inside was always coated with blood and viscera (some their own, some their enemies’) that he would have to scrub out or replace and the outside was nearly irreparably banged up every time they came through.  Most of the time, he would have to just send them to get a new one, which always seemed to rile them up more.

Lapis probably should have hated the Saiyans more than he did.  They were the ones, after all, who came to Earth in the first place.  He saw the one who had been sent, sometimes, in the mess hall.  He was always talking to the cook, that girl from Earth, trying to play like Mr. Shy Guy like his arrival as a baby didn’t doom the entire planet.

There was one Saiyan who always came in to bug him.  He refused to see any other mechanic and so Lapis was the one who had to fix his seat or his GPS system or whatever other problem he came to him with.  He saw him a few times in the mess or at the bar on the edge of the base, but he never spoke to him there.  He was a huge, boorish thing with big features and big, wild hair.

He was due to see him today, since he was finishing repairs on his attack pod.  Lapis found most of the work menial.  There wasn’t anything fun like there was when he would soup up cars he stole for joyrides or drag races.  There was no payoff.  But what was the alternative?  Death?  Attempting to go back home only to find the ravaged remains of his planet?  The only solace he truly had were the books of nature photography he kept in his shitty little bedroom.  It was tiny but private, so he didn’t mind the size.  He would sit on his bed and try to remember the things he _did_ miss about Earth.

“Oi!”

_Right on time._

Lapis wiped his face with a rag and jammed it into the pocket of his overalls.

“How’s my pod lookin’?”

“Fine,” he replied. “Try not to wreck it so badly next time.”

“Can’t promise that.  Shit gets banged up, y’know?”

“Oh, I’m well aware.”

Lapis tossed him the capsule that held his pod.  That was from the scientist, of course.  She had been the heiress to Capsule Corporation back on Earth when any of that mattered.  Her knowledge of the matrix of making capsules was part of why she was spared.  Lapis saw her, now and then.  Sometimes she drank with him at the one bar on the base.  He wouldn’t call her a friend, though.  He had no one before and he had no one now.

The Saiyan caught it in one, big hand and grinned at him.  It would have almost been charming if it weren’t for his mouth full of big, sharp teeth.  He opened his palm to stare at the capsule and then he locked eyes with Lapis.

“What?” he asked irritably.

“How come you don’t eat?”

It wasn’t the question he had thought.  He was surprised that he didn’t even activate the capsule to check out his pod.  Did he trust him that much?

“What do you mean?” he asked back.

“I see you in the mess.  You never eat anything.  Just bread sometimes.”

Lapis shrugged.

“I don’t eat meat.”

He wasn’t sure what most of the food in the mess was but he detected enough weird, fleshy-looking bits to turn him away.  Back on Earth, he had been a vegetarian, and now most days he subsisted on bread and the powdery energy drinks supplied to them.

“You don’t?”

“No.”

Lapis turned away.  He had more important things to do than discuss his diet with a Saiyan soldier.  A soldier who constantly badgered him and Lapis was fairly certain that he didn’t even know his name.

_You don’t know his name either…_

He ignored that nagging little voice in his head and began to walk away.  He had three more hours of work before he could eat his pitiful dinner and go back to his small, pathetic room.  Maybe he would go to the bar tonight.  It wasn’t as if there was anything else for him to do.

Without meaning to, he looked back at the Saiyan.  He still stood there, his body still unnecessarily exposed in his revealing armor.  What was with Freeza and his hatred of pants?  Lapis counted himself lucky to be able to wear heavy overalls.

“What?” he asked despite himself.

The Saiyan held up the capsule and smiled again.

“Thanks,” he said. “For always fixing my shit.”

Lapis shrugged. “It’s my job.”

His eyes met his again and it made him pause.  He had never really gotten a good look at the Saiyan before.  His eyes were such a dark gray that they were nearly black and they seemed to sparkle in the artificial lighting of the mechanic bay.

“Seriously, Lapis.  Thanks.”

With that, the Saiyan gave him another smile and a casual, two fingered salute up near his forehead before turning to walk away.  Lapis watched him go until he could no longer see him, unsure how to react.

He knew his _name?_

\--

He didn’t see the Saiyan again for a week.  He didn’t get a chance to ask him how he knew his name or even make fun of him for being so...so what?  Lapis didn’t want to admit that he was charmed by the fact that he knew his name.  He definitely didn’t feel embarrassed or bad that he didn’t know his name, either.  And he most certainly didn’t check the log of the mechanical bay to find out that his name was Raditz.  He wasn’t sure what to do with this information he wasn’t wholly convinced he needed but nevertheless, there it was.

He wanted to spring his name on him whenever he came in for repairs, which was bound to be soon.  He didn’t want to admit that he was waiting for him so he busied himself around the mechanic bay.  He kept himself so busy, in fact, that his supervisor told him to stop and sit down.

Raditz came around lunchtime, a time that was meaningless to Lapis because he never really got to eat anything.

“Hey,” he said and flashed that would-be charming smile again.

Lapis rubbed at his nose with his gloved hand. “What’s the problem with it now?”

“My pod?  Nothin’.  I actually just got back from leave,” he replied. “It was the rain ceremony.”

He had no idea what that was and had no intention of asking.  His face might have betrayed something because Raditz kept talking.

“It was this ceremony on Planet Vegeta.  Rain was so rare that we had a celebration the few days a year it rained.  Our planet’s destroyed but Freeza still gives us a few days leave to observe it.”

That was surprising.  Did the tyrant actually have a soul?

“He does?”

“Oh, yeah.  We’re his little pet monkeys so he humors us.” Raditz didn’t bother to hide the venom in his voice.

Lapis raised his brows in surprise.

“Anyway,” he said, brightening again. “I went to this nearby planet and.  Here.”

He thrust his fist out.  Lapis held his own hand out and let him drop a capsule onto the heavy material of his glove.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Press it.”

He activated the capsule and, with a puff of smoke, a small and squat refrigerator rested on the floor of the mechanic bay.

“What is it?”

“Oh, uh.” Raditz rubbed the back of his neck and actually looked sheepish. “They’re, like, vegetables and stuff.  The planet has this outpost that has, like, produce and food from other planets.  Even some from Earth.  Thought you might want something to eat before you actually wasted away.”

Lapis wasn’t sure what to say so he just put the fridge back in the capsule.  What was this?  Raditz knew his name and brought him food?  What was his angle?  Did he feel _bad_ for constantly badgering Lapis with his requests to fix his pod?

“Thank you,” he said finally, because it _was_ nice of him to get him that during his very short leave.

“Hey, no problem.  Uh.  Enjoy it.”

Raditz turned on his booted foot and left.  Lapis looked down at the capsule still held in his hand and shook his head.  He really didn’t understand him.

\--

“I don’t know what you were expecting.” Kakarrot bit into a hunk of meat and began chewing with his mouth open.  When he spoke again, his words were garbled by the amount of food he was eating. “You have just as much of a chance with your mechanic as I do with Chi-Chi the cook.”

Raditz considered thumping his brother on the arm to remind him who was in charge but he couldn’t bring himself to.  It wasn’t like he _meant_ to get a crush on the mechanic--it just happened.  Kakarrot swallowed and turned his hand out.

“I’m just sayin’.”

“Well, say something else.”

It wasn’t his best comeback but no one would ever accuse Raditz of having a sparkling wit.  On Kakarrot’s other side at the small, cramped table in the mess, Vegeta curled his lip.  He always acted _above_ them--which was technically true with him being the prince and all--but he was just as bad.  Kakarrot noticed it as well and elbowed him.  It was actions like this that proved how he grew up apart from them.  In fact, Raditz only met his brother years later when he went to collect him and to see how his conquest of Earth was going.  Kakarrot hadn’t even known that their planet had blown up.  As such, he had little decorum or knowledge of chain of command.  He knew they were browbeat under Freeza, but that was all.  He saw the rest of them as equals even though he, like Raditz, was only a low-level soldier.  Because of this, he constantly ribbed the prince and treated him like a buddy rather than his superior.  Honestly, Raditz found it amusing how easily his brother flustered him.

“Don’t be like that,” he said with a wry smile. “I’ve seen how you look at the scientist.”

He whipped his head around to glare at him. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Kakarrot let out a loud whoop of a laugh. “Oh, please!  Every time you’re there, you do _your version_ of flirting.”

Vegeta glared at him. “Which is?  Since you seem to know me so well.”

His brother put his hand on his chest and widened his eyes. “Thank you, Bulma.  You aren’t as useless as these _other_ morons.”

Raditz goggled at him.

“That’s how you flirt?” he asked incredulously.

Vegeta sent an icy glare in his direction and despite the fact that he was over a foot shorter than him, Raditz shrank in his seat.  He just couldn’t talk to his prince the same way Kakarrot did, without an ounce of fealty or guile.  More than his own loyalty, it was the fact that Vegeta was intimidating.  Even when they were children, the much smaller (and younger) prince could silence him with a stare.

“It isn’t flirting,” he said and the muscle at the joint of his jaw was beginning to pulse. “I am simply stating a fact.  She is very smart.”

Despite his words, Raditz saw a flush spread under his olive skin.  Raditz conjured the image of the scientist to his mind.  Bulma was the go to for armor or scouter repairs.  She also was the one who implemented the capsules that had now become commonplace.  He figured she was pretty even though his taste ran solely towards men.  She was slim and her power level was woefully low, but she was smart, probably some kind of genius.  Raditz saw her sometimes at the bar, drinking with Lapis.

From his spot next to him, Nappa let out a disgruntled snort.

“Listen to you kids...and you, your highness,” he said with an incline of his head towards Vegeta. “All these feelings for _humans._  Where’s your Saiyan pride?”

Kakarrot snorted back.

“We’re the only four remaining Saiyans, _general,”_ he pointed out.

“Watch your tongue.  The only reason I put up with you two is because your dad once saved my ass during the Tuffle War.”

Raditz didn’t think that was entirely true.  The four of them stuck together because they were the last of their race.  Some imagined debt wasn’t what kept he and his brother in good standing with Nappa.

“Again: just sayin’,” Kakarrot continued, “it’s either find someone from another race to like or go with one of you.  And you’re not my type, Raditz is my _brother,_ and I’m not kinky enough for Vegeta.”

Vegeta punched him in the arm. “Watch how you speak to your Prince, fool!”

Kakarrot rubbed where he was hit and glowered.

“Is this ‘shit on Kakarrot day’ or what?” he asked irritably.

“No, that’s midweek,” Raditz replied.

His brother never understood how running his mouth had consequences.  It was probably what got him in the most trouble with that cook girl he liked.

“So, _anyway,_ did Lapis at least like the vegetables?”

“No clue.  That guy is so hard to read.”

It was partially what drew Raditz to him.  He still remembered the first time he saw him in the mechanical bay.  His long black hair was tied back in a short, stubby ponytail and he had grease streaked on his face and neck.  Raditz could only imagine what his body looked like under those formless, heavy overalls.  He was thin but he could see his leanly muscled forearms when he rolled his sleeves up and the thin, tapered column of his neck--such a contrast to his own battle armor that exposed so much.  It was his eyes that caught him off-guard, though.  They were a pale blue and as sharp and pointed as shards of ice.  The sight of him had made Raditz’s mouth go dry.  From then on, he wanted to get to know him.  Sex was whatever.  He knew with his face and his body he could get most any guy he wanted into bed.  He wanted to find out what Lapis liked, what his _interests_ were and if, maybe, those interests could include him.

“Keep your chin up,” Kakarrot told him. “And give your adorable baby brother your food if you aren’t gonna eat it.”

He reached for his tray and Raditz smacked his hand before shoving his food into his mouth.

“Not on your life.”

\--

The beer they served in the shitty bar on the far end of the base wasn’t very good but it was something.  He sat at a table with Bulma and Chi-Chi.  They weren’t his friends but they were the only other humans on this particular base and they stuck together because of it.

“Don’t look now,” Chi-Chi said, which was a clear indication to look. “Here come the Saiyans.”

They were as few as the humans, but in a far more dramatic fashion.  The three of them were the only humans _here._  The Saiyans were the only Saiyans anywhere.  Lapis looked at Raditz out of the corner of his eye.  He was still confounded by him bringing him the vegetables.  It was weirdly sweet of him.

“They aren’t that bad,” Bulma said. “The little one is all talk.  He’ll stomp around, making demands, but then after I fix his stuff, he’s all ‘thank you, Dr. Briefs.’  It’s kinda cute.”

Lapis snorted into his glass. “I don’t think he’d appreciate being called cute.”

He was lucky that he rarely dealt with Vegeta, or “the little one” as Bulma called him.  He was lucky to miss him in the mechanical bay.  He was all petulance and entitlement when he ordered the mechanics to fix this or that when it came to his attack pod.  He was annoyingly particular as well.  The lanky one with the awful hair wasn’t bad.  He was kind of clueless about mechanics, like this was all new to him, but Lapis didn’t like him on principle since he had been the one sent to Earth in the first place.  He headed towards their table and Lapis could guess why.  He was looking at Chi-Chi with this dopey, lovestruck look on his face.  It would have been cute if it wasn’t annoying.

“Hey, Chi-Chi.  Can I sit here?”

She turned and looked him up and down, a glare evident on her face.

“No.”

The Saiyan nodded. “Okay.  Cool.  Have a good evening.”

He gave a wave of his hand and scampered back to the others.  Chi-Chi looked surprised.

“Usually those soldiers don’t know the meaning of ‘no,’” she said.

“I told you the Saiyans weren’t that bad,” Bulma said with a wink.

Chi-Chi ignored her and took a sip of her drink.  She claimed to be a princess Before, but not from any kingdom Lapis was familiar with.  Then again, he had been a city boy.  Chi-Chi said she came from the mountains, far out in the country away from West City, where Lapis and Bulma had called home.

“Please.  Meeting the minimum standards of being a decent person isn’t anything special,” she said.

Lapis watched them carousing on the bar, his hand resting loosely around his glass.  No, he couldn’t say he was watching all of them.  He was only watching Raditz.  He realized he had never truly looked at him before.  He had only acknowledged him as “big.”  Lapis only came to about his chest and he was easily twice as broad as he was.  Now, from a distance, he could see all of him.  His hair was a riotous mess of a mane that fell to his thigh and his face...his face was sharply handsome but there was a softness in his cheeks and in his mouth.

“You’re staring,” Bulma said.

He turned his gaze away back to his glass, which was now leaking condensation all over his hand.  He hastily wiped it on the pant leg of his overalls.

“You don’t want to go there,” she continued as if, again, they had anything drawing them together other than being the only humans. “Trust me.”

Chi-Chi gave her a sideways glance.

“Trust you?  How else does ‘the little one’ thank you?”

Bulma made a big deal of acting affronted, leaning back far in her seat and placing the tips of her fingers on her chest.

“Excuse you, Chi-Chi, but a lady doesn’t kiss and tell.” She paused for a beat before adding, “She also doesn’t have sex and shut up about it: we’ve totally done it.”

Chi-Chi swung her hand out as if to say “and there it is.”  Lapis simply shrugged.  He wasn’t one for gossip and he didn’t care whose dick Bulma was riding.  He was here because their companionship made him feel slightly less isolated.

“I wasn’t staring,” he said.  It wasn’t any of their business but he didn’t want them to think of him as some sniveling little boy with a crush. “Raditz did me a favor today and I was just.  Thinking about it.”

“What kind of favor?” Bulma arched her brows and curved her lips up into a suggestive smile.

He rolled his eyes.

“Not the kinds _the prince_ gives you.  He found out I don’t eat meat and he got me some vegetables and stuff from an outpost.  It was nice.”

They looked suitably impressed with the magnitude of the favor but Lapis wasn’t going to elaborate.  At this point, he just wanted to finish his beer and get out of here.  Too long in the curved, metal walls of the bar (or the mechanic bay, or anywhere, really) made him...itchy.  The only thing that made him feel better was looking through the books back in his room.  The planet they were on supposedly once had lush forests but Freeza had had his goons raze them to make it was bland and uniform as the other planets he had for sale.

“You know, I could make you vegetarian options,” Chi-Chi said. “Everyone else in that kitchen is so clueless, I’m basically head chef.”

Lapis waved a hand. “Don’t bother.”

Allowing her to accommodate for him was too close to making it like they were friends.  Out here, after everything, friendship felt like a frivolity.  What did it actually matter?  Lapis nearly scowled at himself.  Nihilism didn’t suit him but there was something about being out on base, on a barren planet that brought out his latent existential streak.  He hated it and he found himself acutely missing his sister.  Whenever he would get on these tears, Lazuli would pooch his cheeks together and tell him to snap out of it.

He pushed his beer away, all interest in finishing it gone.

“I’m heading back.  Have a good night.”

He didn’t wait for either of them to answer before getting up.  He was too far in his own head.  He was nearly out of the bar when a voice startled him.

“Hey, you alright?”

He turned and said, “Sure.  Are you?”

Lazuli, in the infinite wisdom that came with being eleven minutes older than him, had taught him to answer back “are you?” whenever anyone asked him if he was alright.  It was, hands down, the best practical advice he had ever been given because he hated when people seemed to get all concerned.  “Are you alright?” was his least favorite sentence right up there with people telling him to smile.

To his surprise, Raditz laughed.

“Good point.”

Lapis didn’t know what he wanted or why he following him out of the bar.  From the way his laughter trailed off and how he was now looking at those big hands of it, he didn’t know why he did either.

“Just.  Uh.  You’re heading back to the civilian housing units?”

He turned his hand out rather than answer because that much was obvious.  What business did he have in the housing units meant for the soldiers?

“I barely go to mine since we’re almost always on missions.  Vegeta, uh, my Prince--that is, the leader of our group is always getting assignments for us.  Nearly constantly.  So sometimes I forget we’re even technically based on this planet.”

Lapis wasn’t sure why he was telling him this but he humored it.  He could have just walked away but something kept him in place.

“Right.”

Raditz rubbed the back of his neck again as he had earlier that day and the gesture was almost--cute.

“Can I walk you back?”

Lapis hadn’t expected that and he wasn’t sure what to say.  Truthfully, he hated walking back.  The drunker the soldiers got, the more handsy they got with the civilians.  More than once, he had to fend off some soldier who saw him as a fetish because he was human.  It never got too far but it was always unsettling.

“Sure.”

If nothing else, Raditz’s appearance would keep any unwanted hands off of him.  Plus, he did sort of feel indebted towards him after he went through the trouble to get those vegetables for him.

“Have you tried any of them yet?” Raditz asked.

“Yes.”

As a test, he had eaten one of the tuber-looking vegetables that came from some other planet to see if he could even ingest it.  He could and it had a surprisingly nice, nutty flavor.

“Was it good?”

“Oh.  Yes.  It was.” He wasn’t sure what else to say so he added, “Thank you again.”

Raditz shrugged his shoulders as if it were nothing.  He couldn’t figure him out.  Admittedly, since the arrival of the fridge, Lapis had been spending more time thinking about Raditz than he should.  Hell, before last week, he hadn’t even known his _name._

“I’m glad.  I have no clue with that stuff.”

“Carnivore.” He couldn’t help it.  It was in his nature to tease.

“Omnivore,” Raditz corrected, baring his big teeth at him. “But, yeah, mostly meat.”

“Is it true that Saiyans will eat the inhabitants of planets they conquer?”

“Sometimes.” He must have made a face because Raditz laughed. “Hey, it’s only cannibalism if it’s your _own_ race.”

He supposed that that was true.  It was still a bit startling to hear it spoken with such nonchalance.  It was cultural, he supposed.  The tail wrapped around Raditz’s waist wasn’t all that separated the two of them.

“Did you eat any humans?”

“No.  At least, I didn’t.  Nappa might’ve tried but Kakarrot said humans tasted terrible.” He paused. “He was lying.”

Lapis shoved his hands into the pockets of his overalls and cocked his head at him.

“Lying about us not tasting good?”

“Lying about knowing about it,” he corrected. “He didn’t eat any humans.  I think he just wanted to spare as many people as possible.  He was the one who argued your planet’s case to Freeza.”

He figured that Kakarrot had to be the goofy one who had been sent to Earth.  Like with Raditz, he had never learned his name and, more than that, he had no idea that he had fought for Earth’s case.

“Apparently, despite how destructive he was, someone kindly human took him in and he protected this old guy while he was carrying out his orders and all that.” Raditz rolled his eyes but there was a smile tugging on his lips.

Saiyans apparently had more camaraderie than he thought.  Lapis had assumed that they stuck together the same way that he sought Chi-Chi and Bulma out for company: birds of a feather and all that.

“He told you this?”

“Well yeah, I was the one who went to get him.  I had no idea he’d even survived the planet’s destruction ‘til I played this old recording my parents made.” He seemed to realize he was rambling because he shut his mouth.

Weirdly, though, Lapis didn’t mind it.  The conversation kept his mind from going back to the empty place it had been earlier.

“Your parents made a recording?”

“Yeah.  Before they blew up.  I listened to it when--anyway, I forgot I had a brother before then.” He paused and hastily added, “Kakarrot was sent off, like, right after he was born.”

Brother?  Raditz had a brother.  Again, the feeling of missing Lazuli came back.  At first, not having her be there was as harsh and painful as missing a limb.  She was his sister, his twin.  Now the wound was cauterized but there were moments like tonight when he was reminded of his own loneliness.

“What was it like when you met him?”

The question was out before he could stop it.  He wondered what he would have done if he had never known his sister.  Then again, he would have had to know her.  They were identical twins.  What would the other option be?  Some freak scientist cloned him without his knowledge?

“A bit weird.  He laughed.  And then he hugged me.”

“Do Saiyans not hug?”

“It’s.  Discouraged.” Raditz smirked. “My mom was a hugger.  That’s why it was weird.  When Kakarrot hugged me, I realized that not a single person had hugged me since my mom.”

He sounded a bit wistful but then he was all clammed up again.

“Shit, sorry.  I tend to ramble.  Vegeta always yells at me for it.”

Lapis wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“I ran away from home,” he said finally. “My parents weren’t.  Huggers.”

It was all he could contribute and all he could say after all these years.

“And now you’re here,” Raditz concluded.

He was leaving out the years he and sister lived on the street and, of course, the arrival of the PTO.

“I suppose so.”

They reached the civilian housing units without any incident.  Lapis reckoned that it wasn’t _just_ Raditz’s size discouraging drunken revelers but more that it was still early.  Most everyone was at the bar or off-planet--the latter of which would be the case regardless of the hour.

“Here you go.” Raditz held his arm out.

Lapis looked at him. “Yes.  Thanks.”

He turned and went inside.  It didn’t occur to him until the door to his room slid open that he probably should have told him good night.

\--

“Boom, boom!”

Raditz knew by now that whenever his brother made that proclamation that he had to get out of the way.  He moved his head just in time to avoid the blast from his hand.

“Ha!  See that?” Kakarrot called. “Picked that up from some old guy on Earth!”

“No one _cares,_ Kakarrot!” Vegeta called back.

Raditz tried to drown them out.  This mission was especially difficult.  Vegeta had gone to Freeza himself and demanded it.  He wasn’t sure what he was trying to prove.  All of them knew he outranked and outstripped them all in terms of power, even Nappa.  This planet was apparently particularly obstinate.  Even the dreaded Ginyu Force supposedly had trouble with the native inhabitants.

Raditz was reminded of his horrible first mission.  The fear that coursed through his body.  The deaths of his squadmates.  How he thought if he lived, he’d be considered a washout, just like his mother.  Even now, his insides quaked whenever they went on a mission, wondering if it would be his last.  He couldn’t say it out loud.  Saiyans didn’t fear death.  His brother, who grew up away from them with no actual knowledge of their race other than the fact that he was a part of it, was the perfect example.  He was a wild daredevil who threw himself into situations with abandon.

This planet didn’t have a moon.  If it were necessary, Vegeta could create a power ball.  Raditz liked that part.  He only had the vaguest memories of what happened when he was in his ape form.  Battle was easier.  He felt like he was one of the others.  Kakarrot could never join in.  Someone on Earth had cut his tail off at some point.

The inhabitants of this planet weren’t happy they were there.  They were larger than even Nappa with horns that curved up into deadly points.

“Hey!  They breathe fire!”

Kakarrot deftly jumped onto his hands and kicked his legs wide to avoid a stream of flame from one of the inhabitants mouths.

“Saiyan bastards!” one cried. “Death before we let you hand our planet to Freeza!”

Nappa turned to him, his lips curled back from his teeth in an expression that was frozen between angry and thrilled.

“Hear that, boys?”

Vegeta tossed his head back with laughter.  Kakarrot let out some kind of howl--another thing he picked up from Earth.  Raditz laughed with them but he felt separate--scared.  He gritted teeth.  No, he wasn’t a crybaby or a scaredy-cat.  He was a Saiyan, one of the remaining few.  He was a warrior.

He clenched his fists and flew forward.

Much of the battle was blur.  There were wild whoops courtesy of his brother and the sizzle of energy blasts.  Roars from the inhabitants and heat, so much heat, from the fire they breathed.  Raditz felt numb, high on adrenaline, and nearly invincible.  Until one of the horns drove into his middle.  He let out a choked sound and slumped forward.

“Raditz!” Kakarrot screamed his name.

Everything grew fuzzy after that.  He could hear his own labored breathing and taste blood in the back of his throat.  Someone threw him into his attack pod and shut the hatch.  That was all he remembered before he blacked out.

\--

Lapis hadn’t seen Raditz in a while but he wasn’t about to admit that he missed him.  Or if he did miss him, it was the routine of his visits.  Without him hounding him for repairs or whatever, his days were filled with more monotony and menial labor than ever before.  He still had the vegetables in that capsule fridge.  Every time he made himself dinner in the heating element in his room, he thought of him.  Even after the night he walked him home, he wouldn’t say that they were friends, but he didn’t mind his presence anymore.

“Hey, Lapis.”

The voice that spoke wasn’t Raditz’s and he ignored the disappointment he felt that it wasn’t.  He saw Bulma walk through the mechanical bay like it was a runway back home.  Her white lab coat flared around her as she made her way towards him.  She held something in both hands.  As she approached, Lapis could see that it was a mangled chestplate.  Black in color with brown, pointed shoulder pads.

“That Saiyan who has that honestly adorable crush on Chi-Chi brought this to me,” she said. “And don’t tell her I said it’s adorable.  She’ll kill me and put me in a stew or something.”

Bulma lifted the armor up to show him the damage.  Lapis wasn’t sure _why_ she was showing it to him.  It was a destroyed piece of armor.  It looked like someone had punched a hole through it.  The hole was bigger in the front but the back wasn’t spared either.

“It’s bad,” he said, still unsure. “What happened?”

“Lapis…” Bulma lowered the chestplate. “This is Raditz’s chestplate.  He got gored on their last mission.  He’s in the med bay.”

He swallowed thickly, unsure how to assess his emotions.  He just said that he didn’t even think of Raditz as a friend but he also most definitely didn’t wish harm on him.

“Is he okay?”

Bulma shrugged. “He didn’t say.  He was upset, though.”

Lapis folded his arms over his chest, unsure what else to do with them. “Why did you tell me this?”

Bulma looked surprised.

“I thought you’d want to know?  I mean, I’m your friend, Lapis, and I thought he was, too.”

Again, he was at a loss for words.  He thought Chi-Chi and Bulma had the same thoughts he did about their dynamic.  They were just humans who hung around one another.  And Raditz...it was too much.

“Lapis?”

“I…” He regained himself and shook his head. “Right.  I should get back to work.”

Bulma eyed him weirdly but she seemed to get it enough to leave.  He watched the chestpiece as she left, shuddering now at the sight of all the damage.

He worked through the rest of his shift on automatic.  He felt like a robot, going through his usual repairs and projects with mindless efficiency.  After he scanned his ID to leave, his feet led him to the other end of the base, in the complete opposite direction from the civilian housing unit.  Lapis didn’t realize where he was heading until he was outside of the med bay.  His ID opened the door and the doctors looked up, surprised.

The healing tanks were mostly empty.  He saw one contained a member of the Ginyu Force--despite their varied appearances, Lapis thought it was in his best interest not to get close enough to know their names--and in another, all he could see was hair.

“Who are you?”

The doctor was dressed in a robe with a chestplate over it and he glared reptilian eyes at him.

“I’m a mechanic,” Lapis said. “Terran.  Human.”

His voice was failing him, his usual wit gone.  He stared at the healing tank.  When the liquid moved, he could see glimpses of Raditz’s face through the glass and past his billowing hair.

“Why are you here?”

He pointed to the tank. “The Saiyan.  Is he going to be alright?”

The doctor followed his finger with his gaze and walked over to it.  He placed his claw on the curved glass and nodded.

“They’re resilient little monkeys.  He should be out by tonight and all the better for it.”

“All the better?”

Lapis couldn’t imagine being “better” after being run through.

“Saiyans,” the doctor said with more than a little distaste in his voice. “Every time they get close to death, they get more powerful.  You humans have a saying, don’t you?”

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Lapis supplied.

The doctor nodded his beaked head.

“Yes, that’s it.  Saiyans take it quite literally.”

Lapis looked at the tank once more, looking at Raditz’s placid, unmoving face as best as he could.

“Why do you ask, mechanic?” the doctor asked. “Is this Saiyan a friend of yours?”

Lapis watched the tank for a moment longer before he answered.

“Yes.”

\--

“Can I poke it?”

Raditz let loose a growl from deep in his throat and batted his brother’s hand away.

“No, you cannot.”

Kakarrot pouted furiously. “You’re no fun.”

Raditz looked down at the nasty star that bloomed like a starburst in his middle.  He had a matching one on his back as well.

“It looks like someone blasted through you,” Kakarrot said. “If I didn’t see that thing, like, hoist you up on its horn, I’d have thought--”

“Could you shut up?” Raditz asked sharply.

He sat on his bed in his housing unit, the one he shared with his brother.  Despite being some of his best soldiers, his crew got the shittiest stuff.  That was why he had to share a cramped unit with Kakarrot rather than having his own space.

“Sorry.” Kakarrot sank onto Raditz’s bed and looked at him. “I was worried about you.  You’re the only family I got.”

Emotions weren’t something at which he was skilled.  He was clumsy with them, which was why he was so bad at flirting with Lapis.  Raditz simply sneered at him and thumped him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, well, you’re stuck with me, kid.”

Kakarrot grinned goofily. “Yeah, I am.”

He tugged at the edge of his glove for a moment and looked up.  This time, his look was mischievous.  Raditz cringed.  He might have only been reunited with his brother for a couple of years but he had quickly learned to worry when Kakarrot adopted that expression.

“What?”

“You’ll never guess who visited you while you were in the med bay.”

“Was it Freeza?  Did he come to gloat?”

Kakarrot waved a hand dismissively.

“He wouldn’t care if any of us died--except maybe Vegeta.  Have you noticed how _creepy_ he always is to him?  He treats him like a baby and like he wants to fuck him at the same time and it’s _so fucking weird.”_

Raditz _had_ noticed that, but his brother was getting off-topic.  His middle still hurt, too, despite his time in the healing tank.

“Kakarrot.  Who visited me?”

“Oh, right.  Your mechanic.”

That got his attention.   _Lapis_ visited him?  Did he just happen by or did someone tell him?

“Did you tell him?”

“No, I think that scientist Vegeta claims he doesn’t fancy but, like, he is _always_ covered in her scent way more than someone who just goes in to get a scouter fixed really ought to--anyway, I think she told him ‘cause I brought your armor to her.”

Raditz tuned him out as he kept talking about the relationship he apparently smelled on their prince and let his thoughts wander back to Lapis.  What did he think when he saw him floating there?  Did he think he was a weak failure who nearly got killed?  Did he think he was brave?  Suddenly he really wanted to go to the mechanical bay to see if he was working.

He scrambled up from bed only to meet resistance.  Raditz looked down to see a white gloved hand holding him in place.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“You need to rest,” Kakarrot said simply.

“I’m healed,” he insisted.

“Are you?  I’m still not sure how those things work.” He held up one finger on the hand that wasn’t pressed against him. “On Earth, there were these beans you ate that healed you.  This chubby little cat grows them.  Well, grew them, I guess.”

“Kakarrot, that sounds all nice and made up, but I need to go.  I’m fine.”

Raditz pushed his hand back and got to his feet.  He tugged on his armor and the bands he wore on his arm and leg before seeing about his boots and bracers.

“Where are you going?”

He waved a hand back towards him before he snatched his scouter up from off of the little built-in desk against one wall.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Kakarrot crossed his arms and smirked. “Tell your mechanic I said ‘hi.’”

\--

Another day, another pod to tune up.  Lapis tapped the tablet in his hand and checked the cables going into the open panel on its curved side.  This was his least favorite part of his job.  At least when he was actually fixing them, he go to do something.  This was just routine maintenance.  The galactic version of getting your oil changed.  He held his glove between his teeth because the screen wouldn’t recognize his finger with it on.

He watched the readout and yawned.  Like his mind often did when he was in the middle of the most boring tasks was wonder if he could soup up one of these pods like the cars back on Earth.  He wasn’t sure what a sphere could even do but he was interested in trying.  Maybe he could convince Raditz to let him mess with his pod.

Raditz…

More than once, he had let his mind wander to him since he saw him in the med bay.  Since he said he was his friend.  He had to admit that now, even to himself.  He liked Raditz.  He was a killer, a member of Freeza’s army, but--he wasn’t a bad person.  He was weirdly thoughtful and, apparently, had a recording of his dead parents he listened to when he got homesick.  He found himself wanting to talk to him when he got out of the tank.  He wanted to get to _know_ him.

“Oh, good, you’re working.”

He turned and his glove fell from his mouth.  Raditz stood in the entrance to the mechanical bay.  A few others looked up but they all knew Raditz only ever came to see one person here and went back to their own projects.  Lapis balanced the tablet on the top of the pod and turned to him.

“You’re back.”

Neither of these were good starters to a conversation, but--Lapis was caught off-guard.

“Yeah.”

Raditz was breathless as if he had run here--like he had forgotten that he could fly.

“You visited me.”

He didn’t phrase it as a question and Lapis wondered how he knew.  This was a large base but right now it felt almost suffocatingly small.  The doctor might have told his brother who told Raditz.  Or maybe Bulma told him when he went to pick up his new armor.  He supposed that it didn’t matter because Raditz found out and now he was standing in front of him.

Lapis looked up at him and, without thinking, reached up with one, gloved hand to take the scouter from his face.  He wanted to see him full on.  Raditz blinked his eyes as he removed it and then focused them on him.

“Why?”

He licked his lips, feeling weirdly nervous.  For some reason, it brought him back to school--a long time ago.  When there were just rumors of a monster destroying the countryside.  When he and his sister still lived at home.  A boy standing by him at his locker, asking if he liked him.

“I didn’t know,” he admitted. “I didn’t plan to go there but when I got there, I realized I was worried about you.  I wanted to see you.”

Well, it was out in the open now.  Lapis reached down to pick his glove up at the same time that Raditz crouched down, seemingly to do the same thing.  With them both squatting, they were at the same level.  Lapis raised his head so he could look him in the eye.

“Sorry to worry you,” he said.  His voice had dipped to a husky pitch that made Lapis’s insides clench.

He wouldn’t let it show.  Lapis tipped his head to the side and felt the corners of his lips curl up into a fair approximation of a smile.

“Try not to do it again.”

Raditz leaned in to press his lips against his.  He stiffened in surprise for a moment before sinking into the kiss.  Raditz’s scouter fell from his hand and landed with a soft clatter on the floor.

“Lapis!” someone behind him barked. “I’m not paying you to make out with the soldiers.  Get back to work.”

He pulled back and gently wiped his mouth with his gloved hand.

“I get off in three hours,” he said.

Raditz flashed those big teeth of his at him. “Then you’ll get off again in four hours.”

He laughed at his audacity.  Lapis patted his cheek.

“Meet me at the bar and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

“Got it.”

Raditz grabbed his scouter and Lapis grabbed his glove.  He got to his feet and stared at his chest.  It occurred to him that his direct line of sight was probably where Raditz had been gored.  He purposely looked back up to his face.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

Raditz turned to go.  He got only a few feet away before he turned.

“Hey, did you finish those vegetables?”

Lapis was struck for a moment before he nodded.

“Oh, yeah.  I did.”

Raditz grinned. “Great.  I’ll get you some more.  Oh and.”

He tossed him a capsule.  Lapis caught it in both hands, dropping his glove again in the process.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“My pod,” he said. “It’s kind of caked with a ton of blood so if you could…”

Lapis laughed, rolling his eyes as he did.

“If I get to it.”

That got him another grin.

“Oh, yeah, no rush.  I’m out of commission for a couple more days.” Raditz paused and then gave him a wink. “Thanks”

Lapis put one hand on his hip and smirked.

“You’re welcome.”

**Author's Note:**

> http://vertigoats.tumblr.com


End file.
